He had assumed that moving in with Alicia, seeing her in the morning without makeup and her hair disheveled would lessen his desire. That had not happened at all.

The first morning they were in the apartment together, he woke up and smelled coffee. Alicia was in the kitchen already. Her hair was wet, and in its naturally curly state, and she was wearing a blue terry-cloth robe.

"Morning. The coffee is on, and there are bagels and cream cheese if you want. And there are strawberries in the fridge. I have to get ready to go. I have study group before class this morning."

Will half-expected her to peck him on the cheek, and remind him to take Wally to football practice, and Beaver to his piano lesson.

"You're going to be a great wife someday," he said.

"Thanks. I guess," Alicia replied.

"I hope Peter knows how lucky he is," Will continued.

One morning in November, Will woke up expecting the coffee to be when he got up, as per usual. Alicia was spoiling him. Instead, he found her in the bathroom, hunched over the toilet.

"Alicia, what's going on? Are you sick?" The words were out of his mouth before he realized how stupid he sounded. Obviously, she was sick. She was in here puking her guts out.

She attempted to stand up, and got so dizzy; she had to lean on him for support. "I'll be fine. I need to get dressed."

"Alicia, you can barely stand. You're sick, and you're not going anywhere."

"I can't miss classes, Will. You know, from first through fourth grade, I only missed two days of school."

"Well, you're sick now. Go back to bed. I'll get your notes for you,"

"Excuse me, I need to throw up again," she said.

He helped her back to her room, then promised he come back after his morning classes to make sure she was okay.

He went to 7-Eleven after class to buy Lipton Noodle soup, ginger ale, and cold medicine. He gazed at the display of magazines, deciding Alicia would prefer Time or Newsweek to People.

She was asleep when he got back to the apartment, so he heated the soup over the stove, and took it to her.

"Will. When did you get home?" she asked weakly.

"Feeling any better?"

"I feel like crap, actually. I don't think I am making to any afternoon classes today, and tomorrow isn't looking so good either," she said.

"I made you soup. And I bought ginger ale, some magazines, Nyquil, and Vicks Vapo Rub. I'd be happy to rub it on your chest for you if you want me to," Will said.

"Stop it! You are making me laugh, and when I laugh, I start coughing. Thank you, Will."

"I'm going to take care of you just like your mom did," he said.

"My mom never would have done this for me. She would have left me with the babysitter, and run off to lunch and shopping with the girls."

Alicia did not talk much about her family. Her parents had divorced when she was young, and she barely had contact with her father. Her brother was a sophomore at Columbia, and she took the train to New York to see him.

"She sounds like a horrible woman," Will commented.

"She isn't easy to like. I never want to become the kind of mother she is," Alicia said.

Will touched her face lightly. "You are burning with fever. I can take you to the hospital…."

"Will, I'll be fine. It's just the flu. I'll be fine in a few days."

"I have to get to class. Take care of yourself," he said.

He caressed her face again, and something passed wordlessly between them. They never spoke about what had transpired last summer at the beach. Yet it was always there like the proverbial "elephant in the room."

There was a snowstorm that year just before Thanksgiving, and Alicia was unable to fly to Chicago. She called Amtrak, and the trains were cancelled as well. She failed in convincing Will to let her borrow his car, so they ended up spending the holiday together.

The weather was too bad to drive to a real store, so they went to 7-eleven and bought turkey sandwiches, canned cranberries, pumpkin pie Tastee Cakes, and a case of beer. They ate their makeshift holiday dinner on the couch while they watched "Ghost" on

video.

"Do you think love can transcend death?" Alicia asked him when the movie ended.

"Just how many beers have you drank, Alicia?" Will asked. He was not used to seeing her sentimental or weepy like this.

"I'm serious. I find it hard to believe those kind of relationships exist. My parents never had that. You parents do not. Peter's do not. I think love is all fabricated. It was created by Hollywood, and the greeting card companies.'

"So are you saying you don't love Peter?" He was hoping her answer would be no.

"I do. But if he died, I'd eventually get over it, and go on. I don't believe in that concept the Mormons have. You know, that when you find your life partner you are together through eternity."

"I can't see you as a Mormon anyway, Alicia. Living in the desert, having seven or eight kids, and giving up caffeine and alcohol? Not you."

Will got up, and removed the tape from the VCR. "Why don't I pick the next movie? How does "Top Gun" sound?" The conversation was getting a little too deep for him.

"Great! I love Top Gun!" she said.

Alicia went back to Chicago the summer after their second year. Will picked her up at National Airport, and they went to Houlihan's for a drink. She couldn't wait to tell him about her summer adventures.

"I worked for Legal Aid this summer. I really liked it. It was fascinating work," she said.

"Alicia, we're in law school so we can get out, and get jobs that actually pay us money. Just a thought," Will said.

Like Alicia Will was an excellent student. But he did not share Alicia's idealism, or her notions about the "nobility" of the legal profession. Becoming a lawyer was a means to an end for him. Something that would earn him a comfortable living, and allow him to gain the prestige and social standing his family had lacked.

"I know that. I'm not thinking about becoming a public defender or anything. I decided I do want to be a defense attorney, though."

She had also gone with Peter to California. He had taken a leave of absence from his job to work on the Clinton campaign.

"I really didn't like Los Angeles. I liked the weather, and the beach. I just didn't like the fact that you have to drive to get anywhere. I'm from Chicago, and I was jumping on the bus or the El and going all over the city by the time I was twelve. We went to San Francisco too. I loved it there, I could live there," she said.

"Maybe you could move there when you graduate," he suggested. Not that he wanted that to happen. He planned on staying on the East Coast. The thought of Alicia being 3,000 miles away was too much for him to contemplate.

"I don't think so. Peter is never going to leave Chicago," she said.

Will almost spit out his beer. "Hold on. You aren't actually planning on marrying him, are you?"

"Well, it is kind of inevitable, Will. We've been dating for over two years now. He hasn't asked me yet. I have no doubt that

he plans on it."

"Well, don't put all on your eggs in one basket," he said.

Alicia did not know what that was supposed to mean. "So how was your summer?"

"Great. I had a tryout with the Pittsburgh Pirates."

"You're kidding right?" Alicia laughed.

"No. They were having open tryouts. So I drove to Pittsburgh and I tried out."

"So how did it go?"

"They called me back for a second look, but the coaches said my skills were too rusty. I haven't played since junior year of college. I was trying out with kids barely out of high school. Seventeen and eighteen year olds. I'm only twenty-three. I felt like an old man."

"So what would you have done if you made it?" Alicia asked.

"Gone to whatever minor league team they assigned me to."

"You would have dropped out of school?" Alicia asked, surprised.

"Alicia, law school will always be here. The chance to play professional baseball is fleeting. It was a chance to pursue a childhood dream. It just didn't work out."

"Well, frankly I'm glad it didn't. I'd miss having you around," Alicia told him.

Peter proposed during winter break of her third year of law school. He did it in the most public way possible. He proposed in front of the Christmas display in Marshall Field's window.

A crowd had gathered, oohing and aahing as Peter got down on one knee, and presented her with the small velvet box. Alicia was aghast, but felt under the circumstances she couldn't very well say no.

The WGN news van happened to be driving by, and a cameraman quickly jumped out, and asked what was happening. So, the whole thing ended up on the new. WGN was a cable superstation, so it would be seen not just all over Chicgoland, but all over the county. Alicia knew that Will watched Bull's basketball on WGN. She wondered if he had seen it back in DC.

She was mortified that Peter had chosen to do this. She hated public spectacle, and he knew that. Peter was an ASA now, and planned on running for State's Attorney one day. This was more about promoting Peter Florrick than anything else.

They went to Charley Trotter's for dinner after all the hoopla was over. Alicia preferred an intimate place to celebrate their engagement to a crowded, noisy steak house.

`` Peter had invited a few of his co-workers, along with their wives, and girlfriends. Some of them had also brought kids. The children either sat at the table looking bored, or ran around causing mayhem.

Alicia was seated across from a woman named Celia, who was trying to sooth a fussy little girl who looked to be about three.

"So congrats! Peter is a catch. I hear you're in law school. Were you planning on quitting after the wedding?"

Alicia was tempted to tell her it was none of her business. "Of course not. We weren't planning on having the wedding until I finish school. Then I'll take the bar exam, and find a job here."

"What about if you guys have kids? Are you still planning to work then? I'm an attorney, you know. But I gave up my career for Ashley. I wouldn't dream of leaving her with a nanny."

Alicia smiled. 'This is not 1937. Women have choices. Our new First Lady is an attorney, and a mom. If and when I have children, I will decide in what manner I wish to raise them. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to call my mom, and my brother to tell them I'm engaged before they see it on television."

She walked toward the bank of pay phones, suddenly tempted to call Will, and tell him Peter's friends, and their wives were a bunch of pretentious snobs.